Eric Crozier has decided to return to the Atlantic League for a third season. The former Barnstormers OF/1B has signed with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
Crozier played in Lancaster for parts of the 2006 and 2007 seasons and was a key member of its championship team. He was left unprotected by the Barnstormers in January’s expansion draft.
‘‘I am excited to finally have Crozier’s contract in,” manager Butch Hobson said in this article. ‘‘I have heard good things about him. He is a veteran guy who has played with an organization. We hope that he can be a leader and a good clubhouse guy.”
Crozier, 29, was considering retirement at the end of last season, but apparently decided to give it another year. He was released from the Red Sox Double-A affiliate in Portland and returned to the Barnstormers in July. The former big leaguer batted .240 with eight homers and 20 RBIs in 39 games despite not receiving regular player time here last summer.
It was somewhat puzzling that the Barnstormers didn’t protect Crozier. He’s a class act and one of the hardest workers to ever suit up for this team. He also sports an OPS over .850 in this league with 15 homers in 342 career at-bats.
Lancaster opted to protect OF Chris Van Rossum instead. The team then showed no interest in signing Van Rossum, who joined the Golden League’s Edmonton Cracker Cats last week.
According to the article, Crozier will be the only player from the expansion draft signed by the Blue Crabs.
Want to wish Eric the best of luck and can’t wait to see him when he comes to the Clipp
Eric was a class act and his work ethic will indeed be missed.
It will be interesting to see what he can do in this league as a full time player. What alway impressed me was that after almost every game when I was leaving with Mrs Barney he would be in the batting cage outside the locker room hitting off a tee. It didn’t matter if he had 4 hits or 4 K’s we was always there. He would always had a smile and would acknowledge the fans, especially the kids. He may never make it big because of his talent, but many of the “mail it in guys” we had on the team could learn a lot from his work ethic. Good luck Eric and GO ‘STORMERS!!!!!